Nanotechnology may save us, but not without help

Opinion
Max LuUpdated
Mon 23 Feb 2009, 4:31 PM AEDT

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Professor Max Lu ... optimistic scientist

Chris Stacey: UQ

I am an optimistic scientist. In imagining the world in 50 years time, I see many innovations in technology that will have helped us achieve more secure and sustainable energy, and water supplies. They will influence cleaner, greener transportation systems and mitigate climate change.

We will have moved away from our dependence on fossil fuels, and instead rely largely on cheap, efficient solar energy and unlimited hydrogen to power our world.

The world's scientific community is working to reach this goal and the field I work in, nanotechnology, will be central to this transformation.

I like to describe nanotechnology as an enabling toolbox that will allow us to create, manipulate and use materials constructed at the molecular level.

We deal with the tiniest of particles and the science is already being widely used in areas such as ultra-absorbent cosmetics, coating bottles to prevent beer or oil from spoiling, and creating the world's most powerful information storage systems.

Nanotechnology is changing our world and some of its greatest applications will start to emerge in the next five to 10 years as we see cheaper, more efficient ways to capture solar energy become readily available.

Solar energy is abundant. Every hour, the energy from the sun that hits the surface of Earth would be enough to provide a year's worth of energy used globally.

But its use hasn't been widespread because fossil fuels have been so cheap. This is where nanotechnology comes in as an enabling technology.

At the University of Queensland, we are working on creating a new type of solar material that is more efficient in harvesting sunlight and costs less to produce than existing panels.

We are working on a new class of photocatalysts with high, visible light activity that could lead to cost-effective solar energy conversion to electricity or even split water to hydrogen.

We have grown the world's first titanium oxide single crystals. These tiny crystals can store solar energy and are applied like paint - something many houses, commercial and industrial buildings will feature on windows and walls in 2059.

Roofs will be covered with solar panels powering all our domestic and commercial buildings. Industry will use concentrated solar thermal power, captured with structures similar to satellite dishes.

Our power grid, generated by around 80 per cent solar, will be more widely distributed. In cities and towns it will mostly be supplied from local networks reliant on solar panels.

We will have overcome the current technological limitations in storing energy, and "super capacitors", or batteries, and thermal storage media will enable us to collect enough solar power during daylight hours to generate electricity on-time and on-demand.

Transport will rely on hydrogen fuel cells and we will finally have the capacity to store this voluminous gas in nanomaterials, enabling it to be carried on board safely in our cars.

I predict that advance is as little as five to 10 years away. The longer-term challenge with hydrogen is producing it from sources other than natural gas, which involves sequestering the carbon byproduct.

Hydrogen is the world's cleanest energy carrier, with zero emissions on its use. In the next 25 to 50 years, nanotechnology will have delivered the capacity to produce hydrogen from water splitting, providing the world with an abundant, clean source of energy.

This will have two big effects on our water industry.

Our desalination plants will be cheaper and cleaner to operate, as electricity will no longer be generated from fossil fuels.

Research into desalination membranes will see them greatly improved and our capacity to recycle water will be so effective that we will no longer rely on dams and precious river systems.

This is my vision for Australia and the world in 2059, from the science and technological perspectives.

While I might be an optimist, I would caution that these achievements cannot come down to science alone.

While the work we are doing today will help us stabilise and manage the effects of climate change, there will be some irreversible damage.

However wonderful science is, if it is not enabled by public policy and accepted by the general public it won't be made a reality.

We forget sometimes that our quality of life is linked heavily to progress. Having said that, I would urge people to keep an open mind about science and technology, but some critical thinking is needed as well.

The Australian public is very good at that, but they also must realise their support of science and technology often determines what happens at a political level.

Professor Max Lu is Pro-Vice-Chancellor (research linkages) at the University of Queensland. He is one of four panellists presenting at the Brisbane Institute/Queensland State Archives forum, "Q200: What will Queensland be like in 50 Years?", held on February 24 in Brisbane.